Railway-track construction



July 1 1924.

C. F. GAILOR ET AL RAILWAY TRACK CONSTRUCTION 7 Filed Nov. 19 1921 'fty. 4

2 Sheets-Sheet 1,

ATTORN Jul 1 1924. 1,499,767

C. F. GAI LOR ET AL RAILWAY TRACK CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 19. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet III {0/ V I mm 42 13' 12/ fly. 7 L9:

INVENTORJ (Jester if Gaz'lor A TTORNE Y.

Patented July 1, 192% IVTED STAT s TENT OFFICE.

CHESTER F. GAILOR, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, AND CHARLES H. CLARK, or

, CLEVELAND, OHIO.

RAILWAY-TRACK CONSTRUCTION- Application filed November 19, 1921. Serial No. 516,287.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHEs'rER F. GAILOR and CHARLEs H. CLARK, both citizens of the United States, and residents, respectively,

of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, and of Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have jointly invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway- Track Construction, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to rail tracks, particularly for street railways, and has for its object to provide a strong and readily laid track construction, easily adapted to various conditions, permanently holding the parts in proper relation, and, in its preferred embodiment, assuring *a practically noiseless character of the track.

Several satisfactory embodiments of our invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the features of novelty will then be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the said drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view of a track constructed according to our in vention;

Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof on line 22 of Fig. 1;

3 is an enlarged cross section of one of the rails and its support on line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross section illustrating a step in the manufacture of our improved rail form of our invention, on the plane indi-.

cated bythe line 77 of Fig. 8, and

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section on the line 88 of Fig. 7. p

In the forms of our improved construction illustrated by Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the rail supports are not continuous from one rail to the other, as the usual cross ties, but are provided for each rail individually, as shown best in Fig. 1. This View also shows the preferred arrangement of the rail su ports in pairs, with the two members 0 each pair in transverse alignment. The supports are disposed at suitable distances from each other along the track.

Each of the supports shown in Figs. 1,to 6 is made from flat sheet steel formed into a top member 10 adjacent to the base A of the rail, and with downwardly diverging longitudinal side members 11, these members forming together a trapezoidal channel or chamber open at the bottom. At suitable points tongues or like portions of metal are punched out of the members 10 and 11 and bent inwardly to project into said chamber,

as indicated at 12 and 13 respectively. Other 7 portions, in the form of vlugs or clips 14, are

punched out and bent outwardly or up- 13 forming steel reinforcing members embedded in such concrete. We prefer to fill the concrete 15 into said chamber while the support is inverted as shown in Fig. 1, being X held in such position by -a suitable frame 16. This frame has end walls to close the open ends of the chamber of the support and thus better hold the concrete. This special manner of applying the concrete, with the rail support inverted so that its inclined side walls will converge downwardly, will insure a homogeneous character of the concrete and much better connection of the concrete with the'metal than is the case with present steel ties, for the reason that since the body of concrete and the chamber containingit taper downwardly, the concrete will not shrink away from the metal as it is very liable to withconcreted steel ties as made hitherto. The filling of the supports with concrete in the manner described may be done in the yards or at any other suitable place before the supports are brought to the track. The openings formed in the top member 10 and side members 11 by punching out the tongues 12, 13 and clips 14, allow the air to escape readily from the inverted channel 1O 11 when the concrete is filled in. v nit rail=holding clips 14 take the placeof spikes or similar rail-fastenings employed usually. To fasten the rails after they have been placed on the improved supports, the clips 14 are. hammered or otherwise driven down until they are in firm contact with the rail base A. As this may prove diiiicult in practice, we generally drive small wedges or other suitable fasteners 17 between the upper surface of the rail base and the lower sur faces of the clips 14, and preferably these fasteners 17 are then welded to the rails.

In most cases we prefer not to have the rail base A rest directly on the top member.

10, but on an interposed flat cushion. 18 which may consist of asbestos-asphalt or other suitable material, this cushion or filler prefer 'ably being of the same width as the rail base, and as long as the top member 10. We thus obtain a cushion effect which will deaden and eliminate most of the noise now common to most street railway track structures in paved streets.

To establish and preserve the proper gauge, we prefer to connect the supports engaging the tworails of the same track, by tie members or rods19 located at the upper portions of the supports. j ireferably slightly below the levelof the top member 10. These tie rods are preferably welded to the side members 11 at the four points designated by 20, but the connection of the tie rods .with the rail supports might be effected in other ways, as by fastening said rods to lugs or earspunched from the front edges and rear edges of said supports. These rods may be made of cheap material, since they act chiefly as tension members.

Preferably the tie rods 1-9 should not be 7 exposed, but embedded in the upper portion ofthe socalled base concrete 21 in which the concreted rail-supports are placed, such base concrete being in contact with the concrete 15 fillin the rail support, the concrete bodies 1e and-21 when set forming practically a continuous unitary solid mass. The embedding of the rods 1-9 in the base concrete also acts as a reinforcement for such concrete. T he upper surface of the base concrete 21 is generally either flush with oraboyethe upper surfaces of the top members 10. In some cases, or at some port'ions of the track, where for special reasons the tie rods 19 are not thought suifi cient, we may employ additional tie rods 22 connecting the lower portions of the side members 11, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 6. These lower .tie rods 22 might be placed directly below some or all of the upper tie rods 19, and connected with the side mem bers 11 in the same manner as described with reference to said upper rods. The lower rods 22 might, however, connect the supports'of the two rails at portions of said supports other than their front or rear uniform contact between the rail head and the tread of a standard wheel, the supports could be inclined transversely as indicated in Fig. 5 to take into account the slightly conical shape of the tread of the wheel (3. It will be observed that thistransverse inclinat-ion of .the rail support (and the elevation of the outer rail on a curve, if desired) can be obtained much more conveniently with our invention having separate supports for the two rails, than with ordinary steel ties which are connected directly with both rails.

Fig. 6 shows a complete street railway track with the pavement on top of the foundation or base concrete 21. This pavement is illustrated as comprising b-locks23 with joints greeted as indicated at 24, the heads and webs of the rails being likewise embedded in the grout. The other features of the track are as in Fig. 2. We thus obtain a monolithic structure in which the steel rails act as reinforcing members, yet notwithstanding the rigidity of the mass, the structure is practicallynoiseless as regards traflic on the rails, owingto the use of the fillers or cushions 18. In ordinary structures of this character, which are made without such cushions, much trouble is experienced on account of the great noise as all jars, sounds and blows coming upon the rails are transmitted directly to the rigid mass of concrete. The cushions 18 also press upwardly on the rail bases and make it easier to keep them in good contact with the clips 14. i

W hen using separate supports for the two rails, as described with reference to Figs. 1. 2. and .6, the central portion between the rails, at their points of connection, will be n'actically unobstructed, thus vmaking it much easier to work around, install and adjust the supports and their tie rods, and tanip the concrete if necessary, than is the case with other types of ties or rail supports.

In the form of ourinvention illustrated by Figs. 7 and 8, the rail support comprising a top member 10 and downwardly diverging transverse side members 25, is made wide enough to support both rails of the track. Tie rods such as 19 and 22 are therefore not required in this construction, although in case of relatively high rails, v'e mayemploy the well-known expedient of tie-rods connecting the rails directly. Projections l2 and 13 (similar to 12 and 13) may be provided on the. members 10 and 25 respectively, although it is not necessary that all of said membersshould be provided with such projections. We prefer to have the rail-supporting portions of the top member inclined downwardly toward each other, as shown in Fig. 7 thereby obtaining the same relative arrangement of rail head and car wheel as indicated in Fig. It will be understood that in Fig. 5 as well as in Fig. 7the incline of the railsupport will be downward toward the inside of the track, that. is to say, the bases of the two rails will be inclined oppositely so as to converge downwardly.

In the several constructions shown, the punching out of projections from the members (10, 11, 10, 25) of the rail-support not only provides reinforcement for the body of concrete 15 contained within the support, but also forms in said members openings through which the base concrete 21 may enter to come into better contact with said concrete 15 and securely embed the rail supports in the base concrete. The rail supports shown in Figs. 7 and 8 preferably receive their concrete filling '15 while they are in an inverted position, in the same/manner and with the same advantages as explained with reference to Fig. 4.

Our improved track construction provides almost double the support for the rails that is now furnished by other types of ties, and in the forms illustrated by Figs. .1 to 6, the central portion of the tie, which is of no great value in present, monolithic street railway track construction, is eliminated. Even the form shown in Figs. 7 and 8 has the advantage of great simplicity and low cost of manufacture and installation. The work of placing our improved rail supports in position can be done with the simplest track tools. These supports are very light and therefore easily handled, the expense of handling and shipping them being correspondingly low. As the support, whether made actually in one section, as in Figs. 7 and 8, or of two sections connected by tie rods welded to them, is made in one piece with the rail fastenings or clips, this makes it impossible for the parts to work loose or to become unserviceable on account of rusting of threads, as in constructions including screws, nuts or like fastenings. The entire track structure reinforced as it is by ourimproved supports, is very durable yet owing to the cushions employed it avoids the objectionable rigidity of the present monolithic steel concrete track structures, and minimizes the noise produced by the cars.

The improved supports extend under a longer area of the rail bases than the usual cross ties and thus increase the solidity of the track. Owing to the more eflicient support given to the rails, it will be possible to employ a much lighter rail section without impairing the stability or the lasting qualities of the track and road bed. The improved construction will also insure greater freedom for the laying and repairing of the pavements than is now possible wtih constructions in which tie rods are fastened to the rails.

Removal and renewal of rails is also greatly facilitated by our invention, it being only necessary to heat the clips 14 and bend them upward in order to release the rails. The fillers or cushions 18 are then readily accessible for renewal, without in the least disturbing the rail supports and the concretein which they are embedded.

Various modifications may be made without departing from the nature of our invention as set forth in the appended claims. We claim H v 1. A track structure comprising rail supports each consisting of a top member and of downwardly-diverging side members, said supports having openings and tongues bent inwardly at said openings, and also having 1 apertures and rail-holding clips bent outwardly from said apertures in said top members, rails held by said clips, and a body of concrete in which said I supports are embedded. V

- 2. A track structure comprising rail sup wardly from said apertures in said topmembers, cushions set on said top members between said clips, rails the bases of which are fitted between said cushions'and said clips, and a body of concrete in which said supports are embedded.

3. A track structure comprising rail supports each consisting of a top member and of downwardly-diverging side members which extend lengthwise of the track, railholding clips extending upwardly from said top member and toward each other, said oppositely extending clips being integral with such top member, a cushion set on said top member between such clips, and rails the bases of which are fitted between said cushions and said clips.

4:. A track structure comprising rail supports each consisting of a top member and of downwardly-diverging side members which extend lengthwise of the track, railholding clips extending upwardly from said top member and toward each other, said oppositely extending clips being integral with such top member, a cushion set on said top member between such clips, rails the bases of which are fitted between said cushions and said clips, and fasteners fitted between said rail bases and said clips.

5. A track structure comprising rail supports each-consisting of a top member and of downwardlydiverging side members forming a channel with said top member, tongues extending from saidsupport into said channel, rails resting on said supports, and a body of concrete in which said supports are embedded.

6. A track'structure comprising channeled supports having tongues extending into their channels, rails resting on said supports, and a body of concrete in which said supports are embedded.

7. A track structure comprising. channeled supports having openings and, adjacent thereto, tongues extending into the channels of the supports, rails resting on said supports, and a body of concrete in which said supports are embedded and which extends through said openings.

8. A rail support consisting of a body of sheet metal formed with a central member and side members diverging from said central member and forming a channel therewith, and projections extending from said support into said channel.

9. A rail-support consisting of a body of plate-like metal formed with a central memher and side members extending from opposite edges of said central member and forming therewith a channel ranging lengthwise cf the track, and oppositely-extending railholding clips located on the side of said censaid top member and side members.

11. *A track structure comprising two longitudinal series of rail-supports each consisting of a transversely-inclined top member and side members extending lengthwise of the track, and rails resting on the respective series of said supports the top members of one series of supports being inclined transversely in the direction opposite to those of the other series.

12. The process of connecting railsupports having downwardly-widening channels, withconcrete, which consists in'inverting such supports, so that the channels will have downwardly-converging surfaces, and then filling such channels with concrete so that the latter will, by gravity, be urged against said surfaces.

Signed at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga, and State-of Ohio, this 14th day of November, 1921.

CHESTER GAILOR. CHARLES H. CLARK 

